Within the past several years, the development of the precast insulating material members has become prominent to provide insulation for furnace skid rail pipes for furnaces such as heating furnaces utilized in the iron and steel industry. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,297 describes one form of pipe insulation having coiled reinforcing members embedded within the insulation portion and secured to a pipe by means of tie wires. Because the usage of such reinforcing member structures necessarily requires the insulating material be applied about the furnace pipes in situ, such structures are inoperative for insulating skid rails and are commercially unacceptable. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,721 discloses a further form of a furnace insulation member wherein the member is precast and arcuate-shaped to form at most a semicircle structure which may be applied to the skid rail pipe. Additionally, because the precast member includes only reinforcing coil and rod extensions embedded at the ends thereof, such precast members have been found unacceptable as insulation members for covering skid rail pipes because of improper attachment of the member to the skid.
The present invention overcomes the difficulties of the prior art insulating members and provides for a precast insulating material member which can be used for insulating a skid rail pipe.